Union County juvenile detentions officer killed, another injured in shooting a block from Prudential Center

Google MapsThe intersection of Green and Mulberry streets in Newark, near where a Union Count Corrections Officer was fatally shot this morning.

NEWARK — A "targeted" shooting early today outside a bar less than a block from Newark’s Prudential Center left a 23-year-old juvenile detention officer dead and his colleague critically injured, authorities said.

The shooting of the two off-duty officers was the second major crime near the arena this month.

Quinton Brown, of Hillside, who had worked at the Union County Detention Center in Linden since 2008, died around 3:30 a.m. at University Hospital in Newark, two hours after he was shot outside the Arena Lounge near Mulberry and Green streets, Acting Essex County Prosecutor Carolyn Murray said.

Brown’s co-worker — identified by Union County officials as 23-year-old Theolander Abney of Plainfield — was also shot and remains in critical condition at University Hospital, Murray said.

A dispute either inside or outside the lounge may have led to the shooting, Newark Police Director Samuel DeMaio, adding that at least one of the men was targeted.

"Right now, we’re investigating whether or not there was a problem inside the bar before this," DeMaio said. "We know it’s not a robbery or anything like that."

DeMaio said investigators are trying to obtain surveillance video in an effort to track down suspects./

The Arena Lounge was closed this afternoon, and there were no signs of the attacks except for a spidered pane of glass on the front door. Two employees approached a reporter, but declined to answer questions.

Brown and Abney have worked at detention center in Linden since the fall of 2008, said Sebastian D’Elia, a spokesman for Union County.

Friends remembered Brown as a talented athlete who gutted his way through football practices at Hillside High School, where many considered him a locker room leader.

Brown took the dedication he learned on the gridiron and used it to mentor local teens who wound up at the detention center, said John Hutchinson, one of Brown’s high school football coaches.

"He was trying to help the Hillside kids out who went through the juvi system," Hutchinson said. "The messages that we were always trying to give here, he was always selling to the kids."

When he wasn’t working, Brown played for the Hudson County Bounty Hunters, a semi-professional team in the Five Star Football League.

"He was a good guy. He’s going to be truly missed," said Diane Morgan, the team’s co-owner. "He’s been a Bounty Hunter since the inception. He’s one of my family members."

Relatives said Abney always wanted to work in law enforcement, but now they’re just hoping he survives today’s pre-dawn attack.

"Hopefully he’ll be OK," said his grandfather, James Abney. "I’ve been praying hard."

The shooting was the second major crime reported near the Prudential Center this month. On May 3, a roving band of teenagers assaulted and robbed five people after rock concert at the arena, police said. The attacks left one man with a fractured eye socket and another unconscious and bloodied, according to police reports. Three of the suspects were arrested last week, and DeMaio said three more were captured over the weekend.

The Prudential Center will be crowded the next two weeks with the New Jersey Devils and New York Rangers facing off in the National Hockey League’s Eastern Conference finals. DeMaio said he will ramp up police presence when the series moves to Newark on Saturday, but insisted the area around the arena is safe.

"I’m not concerned at all. Both incidents were isolated," he said. "The incident last night, there was absolutely nothing going on downtown."